s, happy in being wrapped by the same ray of
a sunshine that seemed spring-like, in breathing with the same breath
autumnal perfumes laden with vegetable odors which seemed a nourishment
brought by the breezes to their dawning love. Though to them it may have
been a mere circumstance of their fortuitous meeting, yet the sky, the
landscape, the season of the year, did communicate to their emotions a
tinge of melancholy gravity which gave them an element of passion. They
praised the weather and talked of its beauty; then of their strange
encounter, of the coming rupture of an intercourse so delightful; of the
ease with which, in travelling, friendships, lost as soon as made, are
formed. After this last remark, the young man profited by what seemed to
be a tacit permission to make a few tender confidences, and to risk an
avowal of love like a man who was not unaccustomed to such situations.

"Have you noticed, mademoiselle," he said, "how little the feelings of
the heart follow the old conventional rules in the days of terror in
which we live? Everything about us bears the stamp of suddenness. We
love in a day, or we hate on the strength of a single glance. We are
bound to each other for life in a moment, or we part with the celerity
of death itself. All things are hurried, like the convulsions of the
nation. In the midst of such dangers as ours the ties that bind should
be stronger than under the ordinary course of life. In Paris during the
Terror, every one came to know the full meaning of a clasp of the hand
as men do on a battle-field."

"People felt the necessity of living fast and ardently," she answered,
"for they had little time to live." Then, with a glance at her companion
which seemed to tell him that the end of their short intercourse was
approaching, she added, maliciously: "You are very well informed as
to the affairs of life, for a young man who has just left the Ecole
Polytechnique!"

"What are you thinking of me?" he said after a moment's silence. "Tell
me frankly, without disguise."

"You wish to acquire the right to speak to me of myself," she said
laughing.

"You do not answer me," he went on after a slight pause. "Take care,
silence is sometimes significant."

"Do you think I cannot guess all that you would like to say to me? Good
heavens! you have already said enough."

"Oh, if we understand each other," he replied, smiling, "I have obtained
more than I dared hope for."

She smiled in return